Visit to the School

whew today seemed long! In the morning I went to the school where I'll be teaching to see where it was, how long it takes to walk there (10-15min tops), meet the coordinator who's been emailing me, etc, etc. All of the schools here are gated in. There's one entry/exit gate, but you have to have a key or buzz in/out & the office will open it. It's for safety, but I found it odd & really annoying when trying to enter & exit. I followed someone in (luckily I got there when all the 3year olds were getting dropped off) & had to buzz about 6 times before someone let me out. This could also be because they have a break during the day where all the kids run around crazy free with no one watching them (the teachers are having coffee & snacks in the teacher's lounge), so it's gated shut so they can't get out. Quien sabe? I met a lot of people, whos names I can't remember of course, and the coordinator. She's really nice & I got to sit in on her science class. The school is a bilingual school, ages 3 through 6th grade. All classes are taught in Spanish, except for English class (starting at age 3) and science class (at 1st grade). Pilar (the coordinator) told me most of the parents don't know English (and therefore can't help them with any science homework) and that sadly most of the kids don't become bilingual. She did say that they understand it very well however, even when Americans, Canadians, Australians, British, etc talk with accents, they have no problem understanding, so at least that's good.

After returning from the school visit I was able to 3-way skype my parents & brother. Since my brother is studying in Australia it was his dinner time, my lunch time, and my parents' breakfast time. Family meals has a whole new meaning! It was really good to talk with them and hear what everyone's up to.

During the afternoon I walked around Parque O'Donnell. This park is basically across the street from where my apartment is, and is supposed to be the largest park in Alcala (although I have my doubts about that as I walked completely around it in no more than 10min). I also walked west on the main street heading towards Madrid. A little ways up there's an archeological site (too bad you can't go into it), an round-about entering the city with a fountain in it, and a nice parkish type walkway between the 2 main roads heading towards Madrid. Now if only that walkway went all the way to Madrid... alas it doesn't as I reached the end a few blocks later. Per tradition, I also watched today's stage of the Vuelta Espana.

In the evening I decided to go for a run. I was a bit afraid of walking around in Alcala de Henares in running shirts & top, sneakers, & a visor as I would surely stand out as nonhispanic, but it's amazing how much confidence I have when I'm in running attire. Crazy how clothes can change your attitude! I went down to the park near the river I found yesterday & then followed a gravel/stone path along the river. The path was semi-flooded from all the rain (there were a few classrooms flooded in the school as well as pathways in Parque O'Donnell), and it took a bit of getting used to as I'm not accustomed to trail running with pebbles, sticks, & stones. It was a neat trail though & it was alongside the river which is a plus. There were a few other people walking on it, and I saw 4 or 5 guys running. They were the first Spaniards I've seen to actually run. Everyone else I saw yesterday was just kind of jogging faster than a walk, but 2 of these guys were really booking it! So I guess I found the good running spot :D I was going to walk back for a cool down, but thunderstorms were threatening so I ran home instead. As soon as I got up to my apartment the downpour started; good timing!

So it took me 1 day to find a place to run and 2 days to find THE spot to run, not to shabby!